This Fourth of July, ocean conservation groups want Americans to declare their independence from single-use plastic.
A new report, “Charting a curriculum for plastic-free beaches,” identifies the five biggest culprits polluting beaches and waterways: cigarette butts, plus plastic foam food containers, bags, straws and stirrers and utensils.
Anja Brandon, associate director of U.S. Plastics Policy at Ocean Conservancy, said that non-recyclable plastics break down in the water and cause great harm to wildlife.
„We’re asking for sanctions to eliminate or significantly reduce these five items,” Brandon explained. „Eliminating these five items would reduce 1.4 million tons of plastics each year in the U.S. alone.”
The report advised people to bring reusable water bottles, plates, cups and cutlery to their barbecues and join a nearby clean-up event. A year ago, California lawmakers passed Senate Bill 54All packaging in the state must be recyclable or biodegradable by 2032.
Brandon pointed out that the landmark California law begins the move toward a „circular” economy, where products are designed to be reused or recycled so they don’t end up in a landfill.
“SP 54 should help all manufacturers of single-use products take responsibility for their products and help pay for the recycling or composting of those products,” Brandon outlined. „Also, the bill requires that plastics meet an incredibly high recycling rate of 65%.”
You can find more ways to avoid single-use plastics on the website plasticfreeJuly.org.
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American Public Interest Research Group Education Fund Google insists It will allow Chromebook owners the right to repair devices to extend their lifespan, reduce e-waste and save money for schools in Georgia and across the country.
with 31.8 million Chromebooks were sold In 2020, many of which were distributed to schools during the pandemic, many devices are nearing expiration and will soon stop receiving updates.
Lucas Gutterman, the group’s last campaign director, is calling on Google to double the lifespan of their Chromebooks to prevent them from losing working devices, an effort that could save Georgia schools millions of dollars.
„Our report actually doubled the life of a Chromebook from four to eight years, saving Georgia $63 million and reducing the carbon emissions equivalent to taking 32,000 cars off the road for one year,” Guterman explained.
Gutterman warned that Chromebooks could become a dangerous form of e-waste as operating system expiration dates approach. Studies show more than e-waste accounts 70% toxic material In our waste stream, it causes cancer, fertility problems, developmental delays and other health risks.
According to a survey conducted last year National Association of School Networks In 2022, many schools will implement a one-to-one program, giving each student their own device.
However, Gutterman highlighted that the loss of security access to laptops could mean schools lose access to critical sites.
„Chromebooks have an expiration date, after that date has passed,” Guterman pointed out. „Even if a laptop works well, for state testing websites, other secure websites, and many schools, that laptop isn’t really going to meet their needs.”
In addition to saving schools money, the report estimates that doubling the life of Chromebooks for an estimated 48.1 million K-12 public school students in the U.S. would save taxpayers $1.8 billion dollars, with no additional maintenance costs.
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By Kaley Wells KCRW.
Broadcast edition by Suzanne Potter for the California News Service report on the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service collaboration.
Sanalisa Serra steers a forklift around hundreds of boxes of clothes in a commercial warehouse. Some are worn and damaged, others are not used at all. Her job: to prevent them from going to a landfill.
Sera works Homeboy BooksA new division of a new for-profit organization that rehabilitates and trains formerly gang-affiliated and incarcerated individuals.
„I learned how to forklift and enter weights and data entry into computers,” Serra says of his job. “I learned how to sell products online, on e-com. I never, never in my life thought I knew how to do those things.
Cera started out as a coach Homeboy Industries A year and a half ago, Homeboy became the first full-time employee at Threads. Now he’s overseeing the next batch of interns and teaching them what he’s learned.
Trucks that bring in loads of clothing for Sera to sort are filled with unsold company inventory, unused fabric rolls or worn items that customers have returned to the store.
Homeboy can profit in a few ways: they can sort clothes for a company and hand them back; mend or sew new clothes and sell them; Sell recycled raw materials in a new medium like insulation.
Homeboy Threads CEO Chris Zwicke explains that it’s a labor-intensive process: „Sorting all the different parts: what’s used, what can be resold, what needs to be repaired or beyond recycling, and what needs to be recycled.”
Some of the clothes in the warehouse belong to a clothing company Guess what. It has been working with Homeboy on a pilot program for more than a year, publicly announcing its launch last week.
„Initially we started the pilot with store returns, damages, irregular products,” explains Nicolai Marciano, director of brand partnerships. “Since the launch of our pilot program in December 2021, Homeboys has received over 200,000 pounds of clothing.
Textiles are California’s fastest growing form of landfill waste. American consumers throw away about 81 pounds of clothing Every year, and buy a new piece every five or six days. That’s five times more than what we bought 40 years ago.
But Zwicke says he’s seeing more consumers and companies wanting to know where their unsalable clothing ends up. „Corporations are more sensitive now to the idea that there’s no 'away’ when you throw something away. It’s actually going somewhere.”
Homeboy Threads comes online just in time. California politicians introduced a bill this year Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2023, manufacturers must figure out how to collect and recycle reusable clothing and textiles. That means there will be an increased demand for authorized collectors to do all the sorting and repairs for companies.
„It’s a gap in the market that we’ve seen and we’re filling with our workforce development work,” says Zwicke. „We’re here to create jobs, and there’s a lot of manual labor involved in what we do.”
Kelly Wells wrote this article KCRW.
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A bill in the Tennessee Legislature aims to reduce packaging materials that end up in landfills by promoting voluntary recycling in the state.
A recent survey ranked Tennessee 47th In recycling states, only 7% of common containers are recycled.
Senate Bill 573 required Reducing unnecessary packaging and recovering more valuable materials in the recycling process. And it will be Support and develop markets for recycled materials.
Dan Firth is chairman of the solid waste and mining committee for the Sierra Club’s Tennessee chapter, and said the improvements will also result in cleaner air and water.
„This bill focuses on reducing the amount of packaging waste that goes into landfills, is incinerated and is otherwise lost,” said Firth. „And to ensure that those valuables that are packaged are recovered and go back into the circular economy.”
The bill would establish an advisory committee to conduct a statewide assessment of how recycling infrastructure and services can be improved. It was state Sen. Sponsored by Heidi Campbell, D-Oak Hill.
Firth emphasized that the bill would provide financial stability to local recycling organizations, help invest in recycling infrastructure and create local jobs.
He noted that ensuring a domestic supply of raw materials for new products could improve Tennessee’s business opportunities.
„To collect more materials, there must be more jobs to do the work — to collect, to transport, to process,” Firth said. „There will be more jobs in using the collected materials and making new products.”
Firth said the bill would also reimburse some of the associated costs of cities’ recycling programs.
Disclosure: The Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on climate change/air quality, energy policy, the environment, environmental justice. If you want to contribute to Public Interest News, click here.
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